India teams up with Iran to circumvent Pakistan

In a curious twist of events, the U.S. is now indirectly backing the construction of a mega-port in Iran. Earlier this week the leaders of India, Iran, and Afghanistan signed a transit agreement centering on the Iranian port of Chabahar — a clear riposte to the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with its terminus in the Pakistani port of Gwadar, only 45 miles east.

China’s plans to turn Gwadar into an economic hub could reshape the region’s geopolitics. It would give China a new trade link from its relatively undeveloped West to key Arabian Sea shipping routes at the mouth of the oil-rich Persian Gulf — and might someday be a base for projecting Chinese naval influence, as Blouin News wrote last year.

Meanwhile, Delhi is keen to expand its economic links to Central Asia while completely circumventing…